In Between Days
by Silver Sailor Ganymede
Summary: 30 drabbles about Daphne Greengrass.
1. Sapphires

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

_**(N.B: For Mystii's '30 Drabbles in 30 Days' challenge)**_

In Between Days  
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

I. Sapphires

Blaise bought her sapphires for her birthday.

It wouldn't have annoyed her if he hadn't given them to her and then said, "I know these are your favourites. Look how well I know you, love."

They weren't. She had never liked sapphires; blue clashed hideously with her eyes. Emeralds would have been better, or jade – even rubies. Rubies would have stood out wonderfully. Sapphires just clashed.

She smiled and said thank you to Blaise for the present anyway. It would have hurt too much to admit that she didn't like them.

Daphne Greengrass hated sapphires, but right now she hated Blaise even more. He claimed to love her but he didn't know her at all.


	2. Love

II. Love

Daphne didn't want to have to listen to this, didn't want to be forced to hear her sister (her beautiful, young, not-even-twenty year old sister) proclaim that she was getting married to Draco Malfoy within the month. It was an absolute nightmare.

"Astoria, you're too young," Daphne sighed as she poured herself another glass of wine. The wine was sour, a wonderful contrast to the sickly sweet rubbish her sister had been spouting for the past half an hour.

"No I'm not," Astoria replied. "If I don't marry him now then someone else will."

"He's a convicted Death Eater, my dear. Somehow I doubt he'll be high in most eligible purebloods' marriage lists."

"I love him, Daphne. Surely you can understand that?" Astoria cried.

"Love?" Daphne scoffed. "What do I know about love?"

"Blaise," Astoria replied quietly. "I know you loved him. Don't even bother denying it."

Daphne dropped the glass. It shattered on the floor.

"Get out," she said quietly. "Now."


	3. Hundreds

III. Hundreds

There are hundreds of people in the Great Hall. Daphne can't help but feel a little terrified; hundreds of people and all of them are staring straight at her. For a moment she wonders why the sorting ceremony can't be held somewhere a little more private.

She chastises herself for that thought. Why is she being so ridiculous? Of course they should be staring at her. It wouldn't do to be overlooked, to allow people to think that she is just another beautiful pureblood girl with good marriage prospects but no brain. She can't have people thinking that; she'll prove them all wrong.

"Slytherin!" the Sorting Hat shouts out.

Daphne feels herself smiling widely as she makes her way over to the Slytherin table like she's always known she would. There are hundreds of people in the Great Hall and all of them are staring at her, just as they should be.


	4. Sunshine

IV. Sunshine

If there's one thing Daphne hates about being in Slytherin, it's the fact that the common room and dormitories are in the dungeons. Their rooms are cold and damp all year round, dark and dank.

A living grave buried under the Black Lake, that's what Slytherin is. They are practically nocturnal; the only light they see down there is sickly green light that's been filtered through the glass panels in the ceiling and the deep waters of the lake. They look like vampires or zombies, deathly pale and ill.

Sometimes Daphne cries because she misses seeing the sunshine.


	5. Moonlight

V. Moonlight

Daphne is failing Astronomy. It's not her fault though; she simply can't concentrate. How could anyone possibly concentrate on labelling charts with the names of the moons of Jupiter when the night is so beautiful?

She understands why some of the old pureblood lines named their children after constellations and stars. Sirius, Regulus, Bellatrix – proud, noble names. The names of purebloods, the names of stars.

Blaise's golden eyes are glimmering in the silver moonlight. She looks at him, smiles and decides that when they have children she will name them after stars. Proud, noble, pureblood names – beautiful names, glimmering like the moonlight.

She's never going to pass Astronomy if she keeps staring at Blaise like this.


	6. Fiery Orange Hair

VI. Fiery-orange hair

Sometimes Daphne was a little jealous of Ginny Weasley – not, of course, that she would ever admit it.

Ginny was the youngest girl. She had six older brothers. She was allowed to do whatever she wanted, including playing Quidditch, because the family line would carry on regardless of whether she married or not.

Daphne, on the other hand, was the oldest girl. She had one younger sister. Her parents had never allowed her near a broomstick for fear that she'd fall off and damage herself in some way. She was made of porcelain; a beautiful little doll to be sold off to the highest bidder when her time came.

She hated it.

The thing that Daphne was really jealous of, though, was Ginny's hair. It was a wonderful, fiery, burning shade of orange. It was unusual and bright, just like the girl herself. It wasn't at all like Daphne's own hair, which was of such a shade of blonde that people always assumed she was as stupid as she was pretty.

Sometimes Daphne wanted to dye her hair bright, Weasley red. If she did that then maybe someone would take her seriously for once – maybe people would finally realise that she wasn't made of porcelain.


	7. Marked

VII. Marked

When she saw the Dark Mark on Blaise's arm, Daphne felt as though her heart was about to break. She had caught a glimpse of something on his arm and insisted on seeing what it was, insisted even more when he tried to hide it from her.

In the end he showed it to her, the hideous scar burned into his skin and into his soul forever. This wasn't the Blaise she loved, it couldn't be.

"Why?" she asked. "Why would you do this to me?"

He stared at the floor, refusing to answer her.

"Why, Blaise?"

"I was afraid, alright?" he snapped at last. "If I hadn't joined then they would have killed me!"

"The Death Eaters killed my parents," Daphne whispered. "And now you're one of _them_."

This wasn't the Blaise she had fallen in love with. It couldn't be.


	8. Blissful

VIII. Blissful

Daphne hadn't felt so completely blissful in a long time. She had finished her OWLs without killing someone, ruining her hair or turning up to an exam without her makeup done perfectly. She was quite certain she'd passed everything (with the possible exception of Astronomy, but who really cared about getting an OWL in Astronomy?) and now she had until September to relax.

She was sitting by the lake, wondering whose cruel idea it had been to make them sit their exams in the middle of summer and rejoicing in the fact that she was now free. The weather was nice and calm and she could hear the first years panicking about whether they'd have to repeat a year (how could anyone ever have failed first year exams? They were so _easy_!) The only thing that could have made her even happier was if Blaise were there with her.

That was when she caught sight of Blaise with Lisa Turpin and her good mood died immediately. Bliss only comes from ignorance after all.

She was going to kill him.


	9. Groan

IX. Groan

Daphne couldn't help but groan as loudly as possible. Pansy just would not shut up, would she? Draco this, Draco that, Draco is so wonderful, isn't he Daphne? It wouldn't have been so bad had it been anyone else Pansy had been pining after, but Daphne couldn't bring herself to like Draco. She couldn't stand the boy. She had hated him ever since he got paint in her hair at a birthday party when they were six and Pansy's stupid crush was _not _going to change her opinion.

"What's wrong, Daphne?" Pansy asked.

"You've been talking about Draco for the past twenty minutes. Non-stop," Daphne replied.

"He's wonderful, isn't he?" Pansy chirped.

Daphne suddenly felt the urge to hex Pansy. How in Merlin's name was it possible for the girl to be so completely oblivious?


	10. Why?

X. Why?

Daphne had come to the conclusion that Blaise had finally gone completely mad.

"Why in the _world_ would you do _that_?" she asked. "Seriously, have you gone crazy?"

"No," Blaise replied. "I just think taking Ancient Runes for OWL would be a good idea."

"But you hate languages," Daphne said. "I can understand you taking Muggle Studies and Divination, but Ancient Runes?"

"You're the one taking Arithmancy," Blaise said sulkily.

"That's because I'm good at it," Daphne replied. "But you taking Ancient Runes? Seriously? Why?"

"You and Theo are going to be in my Ancient Runes class," Blaise replied. "So I can just copy your work, can't I?"

"Nice try, Blaise. That's not going to happen."


	11. Empty

XI. Empty

"Blaise, would you care to tell me where my lipstick's gone?" Daphne snapped.

Blaise looked up at her with his most innocent expression – which of course served to make him look even guiltier than Daphne would have thought possible.

"You're holding it, darling," Blaise replied.

"No. I'm holding an empty tube where my lipstick should be," Daphne replied. "You've been stealing my makeup again."

Silence.

"No…"

"You're smirking, Blaise. I know you're lying."

"It's a nice shade of pink, okay?" Blaise whined.

Daphne chucked the empty tube of lipstick at him. It hit his forehead with a satisfying clunk.

"Don't wear pink, Blaise. How many times have I told you it doesn't suit you?"


	12. Raving

XII. Raving

"You're stark raving mad, Greengrass."

Daphne glared at Theodore Nott. They had been in school together for five years already and he still wasn't calling her by her first name.

"How exactly am I mad, Theodore?" Daphne asked coldly.

"You just told Tracey that girls shouldn't play Quidditch," Theodore said slowly.

"Yes, I know I did."

"You do realise that she's likely to hex you for that at some point this week? There's little she hates more than not being able to play Quidditch."

"Half-bloods are so strange," Daphne muttered. "And so are you, Nott. I'm beginning to think you're part vampire or something."

"Such an original comment, Greengrass," Theodore sneered. "Such an original comment." His tone of voice was enough to tell her that their brief conversation was, thankfully, over.


	13. Continually

XIII. Continually

Daphne couldn't help but wonder sometimes how Draco managed to be so continually annoying. He hadn't changed since he was six, much to Daphne's exasperation. The Gryffindors claimed to hate him but Daphne knew that she hated him more; she had to spend more time with him than they did, after all.

That was why she couldn't help but laugh when she saw him transfigured into a ferret. She found herself wondering whether the spell Professor Moody had used just transfigured someone into the shape they'd take as an animagus, as she couldn't think of a more fitting animal for Draco Malfoy than a slippery, blinding white albino ferret.

Amazingly enough, Draco Malfoy wasn't so continually annoying after that.


	14. Maniac

XIV. Maniac

Blaise was giggling again. He had been giggling incessantly for the past five minutes. It was taking all of Daphne's willpower not to hex him to make him shut up.

"Blaise, you're a total maniac," Daphne sighed. "What are you even laughing at?"

Blaise was still laughing too hard to reply. It was from Theodore that Daphne eventually got her answer.

"Sugar," he explained, looking as unimpressed at Blaise's hysteria as Daphne felt. "He's eaten a chocolate bar the size of a Hippogriff today."

"Thank Merlin!" Daphne said, relieved. "For a moment there I actually thought he'd gone mad."

"It would be impossible for Blaise to go mad." Theodore sneered unpleasantly at her. "He went mad years ago."

Evidently not as mad as you, Nott, Daphne thought - though of course she didn't dare say that aloud.


	15. Dreamily

XV. Dreamily

Pansy was staring dreamily at the wall again. She had been doing this rather a lot recently; personally Daphne thought she had gone completely round the bend.

"Pansy, is there something wrong?" Daphne asked after Pansy had been looking at the wall for five minutes straight, a strange smile on her face.

"No," Pansy replied. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Professor Lockhart."

That was the point at which Daphne decided to leave the room. She was not going to listen to another rant about how wonderful Gilderoy Lockhart was when the man was quite frankly an idiot. It was even worse than Pansy's Draco obsession... well, almost.


	16. Amethyst

XVI. Amethyst

Theodore seemed to become progressively more vampire-like every time Daphne bothered to look at him. His skin had gone from being rather pale to making him look downright ill. Of course the jet-black circles under his eyes weren't helping at all; they made him look like a member of the walking dead. Maybe he did have some vampire ancestry at some point in his family's past?

"You look tired, Theo. Are you having trouble sleeping?"

"How wonderfully observant you are, Greengrass," Theodore drawled without even bothering to look up from his book.

"Have you tried putting a piece of amethyst under your pillow?" Daphne suggested, remembering something she'd read in one of her Divination textbooks. "It helps to cure insomnia."

"You don't really believe in all that rubbish, do you?" he scoffed.

Daphne made up her mind that this was the last time she was going to do Theodore Nott a favour.


	17. Opened

XVII. Opened

Whenever it rained during summertime, Daphne liked to sit in her room with the windows open. The heavier it rained, the wider she opened them.

It wasn't as though she even liked the rain that much. She had always preferred the beautiful golden sunshine to the rain. It was just that Slytherin house, situated under the lake as it was, smelled just like summer rain, with its damp stone walls and roaring, warm fires.

When Daphne went home for the holidays, she missed Hogwarts a lot more than she would ever have admitted.


	18. Judgmental

XVIII. Judgmental

Daphne found Muggle Studies very, very odd. She had never wanted to take it (why should she care about muggles at all?) so she couldn't quite force herself to understand the fact that she was sitting in the Muggle Studies classroom. She also couldn't bring herself to understand the fact that the woman teaching them was a Death Eater, that Professor Snape was the headmaster, that the Dark Lord was back or that half her classmates were missing, possibly dead.

Slytherin hadn't changed much. Tracey Davis was the only one from their year who'd fled back to the muggles when they realised that war was upon them. Millicent Bulstrode was the only other half-blood, and her behaviour hadn't changed at all; it would have been impossible for the hag-like girl to become any quieter than she already was.

Professor Carrow was ranting about the uncleanness of muggles again. Daphne privately wondered whether the Death Eater thought that they were all stupid; this was the third time they had done this exact same lesson. Theodore Nott appeared to have grown bored of Carrow's ranting as well, as he had an Arithmancy textbook on his table and was filling out impossibly complicated diagrams. Daphne wondered what Carrow would have done to him by now if he weren't a Slytherin.

"Muggles are not human!" Carrow shrieked across the room, her voice like nails scraping down a blackboard. Daphne couldn't help but flinch. "They are disgusting animals who sometimes, unfortunately, trick witches and wizards into breeding with them. Their filthy blood is more dangerous than amortentia."

"Judgmental, much?"

Daphne wasn't surprised to find that it was Seamus Finnigan who'd spoken. The sandy-haired Gryffindor had always been rather loud and stupid (Gryffindors generally were) so he would have been the first one to speak, wouldn't he?

"No, Finnigan. Not _judgmental_." Carrow spat out the word as though it were a particularly venomous curse, leaving Daphne in no doubt as to what she was going to do next time the Gryffindor spoke out. "Truthful. The fact that you think otherwise is proof that your filthy muggle blood has addled your brain."

"Not as much as inbreeding's addled yours, Professor."

The next thing they knew, he was screaming.

Most of Daphne despaired for the Gryffindor's outspokenness (he'd be dead before Christmas at this rate), but there was still a small part of her that couldn't help admire him for his bravery – and his freedom to be brave.


	19. Dancing

XIX. Dancing

Daphne was sitting in the corner of the room, staring at the people who were already dancing. Men had been asking her to dance all evening, of course they had, but she had yet to get up. She was quite content to stay where she was. Why should she have to dance with every man who asked her?

"You're being terribly antisocial, darling," her mother snapped, the blue and purple robes she was wearing making her look for all the world like a rather irritated peacock. "Why don't you go and dance? You usually love dancing."

"I'm afraid I feel a little ill tonight, Mama," Daphne replied.

Her mother glared coldly at her, apparently entirely unsatisfied by her excuse, but swept off anyway because she didn't want to cause a scene in front of their guests.

Daphne wasn't feeling ill at all; she was just waiting for him to come over and ask her to dance. He had been sitting with Theodore Nott for most of the evening, a wicked grin on his face and a stolen bottle of firewhisky half-hidden under the table. She would have gone up and asked him to dance if she could have, but of course tradition wouldn't allow it.

Damn tradition, Daphne thought. Damn tradition and damn Blaise Zabini; the boy was the most oblivious person she had ever had the misfortune of meeting.

She took the next dance she was offered; she was bored of having to wait.


	20. Flower garden

XX. Flower garden

The only thing Daphne was jealous of Draco Malfoy for was the fact that he had proper flower gardens at home. Real, actual, huge sections of garden dedicated solely to growing and showing off the most wonderful collection of flowers imaginable.

The rose gardens had always been her absolute favourites because they were full of pure white roses. At first sight it looked like the garden had been blanketed with fresh snow in the middle of summer. White roses were beautiful, but only white ones; Daphne hated red roses just like she hated red wine. Red was such an aggressive colour. Flowers weren't aggressive, not even the ones with thorns; they were peaceful and beautiful, exactly like Daphne herself.

When Astoria announced that she and Draco were getting married, Daphne couldn't help but feel upset that her sister, who had never liked flowers, would get to see those beautiful gardens every day. What Daphne would have given to have that chance herself…


	21. Truthfully

XXI. Truthfully

Pansy was wearing the most hideous set of robes Daphne had ever seen in her entire life. They were salmon pink and covered in outdated frills and looked like something that her grandmother might have worn.

"How do I look?" Pansy said.

"Truthfully?" Daphne replied and Pansy nodded, looking worried. "You look lovely."

Telling Pansy the truth would just create a huge amount of chaos, and Daphne wasn't prepared to deal with that. She just wanted to enjoy herself for once.


	22. Lies

XXII. Lies

"When are you going to stop telling me these stupid lies?"

Daphne didn't think she'd felt so angry in a very long time. It wouldn't have annoyed her so much if Blaise had bothered to tell the truth – but here he was again, lying through his pearly white teeth.

"I'm not lying," Blaise protested.

"Yes. You are. I know you are. I _saw_ you!" Daphne cried. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Lisa Turpin," Daphne replied in the iciest tone she could muster. "Again. You told me you'd stop seeing her. You said you loved me. You _promised_." She hissed under her breath and tried to resist the urge to curse him into oblivion, tried to resist the urge to start sobbing. "Are you ever going to stop lying to me?"

Blaise didn't reply. The coward.


	23. Gone

XXIII. Gone

When Daphne arrived at school for her seventh year, she had a distinct feeling that there was something missing. She felt it all through dinner but didn't bother asking anyone until they got to the dormitory - until they were far enough away from the new heads of the school that she felt that she could speak without fear of recrimination.

"There's something gone, isn't there?" she asked the others. Pansy shrugged, not bothering to look up from where she was folding her robes. Millicent, however, glared at her.

"Not something, Greengrass. Someone."

Daphne frowned. "What do you m…" she stopped, finally realising what – or rather whom it was that had disappeared. "What's happened to Davis?"

"She's gone," Millicent replied. "Entire family disappeared when they heard that the Dark Lord was back."

Daphne didn't even want to think about what 'disappeared' might mean.


	24. Bones

XXIV. Bones

"That stupid Hippogriff ought to be killed!" Pansy was wailing. "How could they let such a horrible thing into the school?"

"It's not the Hippogriff's fault, Pansy," Daphne found herself explaining for what felt like the thousandth time that day. "From what I've heard, Draco was being really antagonistic."

"He wasn't!" Pansy replied. "My poor, poor Draco. All the bones in his arm are broken. How is he going to play Quidditch ever again?"

"Madam Pomfrey can mend bones in about five seconds," Daphne sighed. "He's just putting it on for the attention."

She had to give Draco credit for that though; it was obviously working, especially in Pansy's case.


	25. Soldier

XXV. Soldier

"Draco's an idiot," Blaise muttered. "He's a complete and utter idiot."

"Is this about the rubbish he was spouting on the train the other day?" Daphne asked. "You don't actually believe him, do you? It's _Draco_. He never tells the truth about _anything_."

"This time he is," Blaise replied with a sigh. "This would be too big a lie, even for him. Thinks he's the Dark Lord's favourite now. Thinks he's a real soldier."

"He's an idiot," Daphne replied. "Personally I think he's lying. He's always bragging about his family's connections, so this is obviously his way of trying to redeem himself."

"Daphne, I just _told _you that he isn't lying," Blaise snapped. "I've seen it. The Dark Mark. I saw it when he was getting dressed yesterday." He shivered. "Such a hideous thing to sell your soul for."

"You wouldn't join him, would you?" Daphne asked.

"Of course not, Daphne," Blaise snapped, affronted. "How could you even think such a thing?"


	26. Closed

XXVI. Closed

Daphne can still remember the day her father left home for good. There were none of the usual arguments, none of the screaming and shouting that usually accompanied one parent or the other disappearing for what was left of the summer – just a dull silence and a sudden slam as he closed to door behind him one last time.

Her mother hadn't said anything about it, just put on a brave face and carried on as normal. The whole world knew that her husband had run off with a Veela after nearly twenty years of marriage, but that didn't mean the whole world would get to know how she felt about it.

Daphne Greengrass was fourteen years old when she made up her mind that she would never trust a man with her heart. The flaw in her plan? Blaise Zabini.


	27. Water

XXVII. Water

Daphne supposed she should have known that going for a long walk in the woods with Blaise wasn't a good idea. She was completely covered in mud already – and now she was soaking wet as well because Blaise kept throwing stones into the river.

"Will you be careful what you're doing to the water?" she snapped. "You'll annoy the nymphs."

"You'll annoy the nymphs," Blaise mimicked.

Daphne slapped his arm. "Shut up."

"There are no nymphs round here, genius," Blaise snickered.

"Well can you stop throwing stones in the river then?" Daphne snapped.

"I'm not _throwing_ stones, I'm _skimming _them," Blaise replied. He chucked another stone, sprinkling Daphne in droplets of water.

"Will you _stop it_?" Daphne cried. "You're soaking me."

"Stop whinging," Blaise sighed. "Just look at the river, isn't it pretty?" He threw another stone in, causing ripples in the water and a small rainbow where the droplets flew up into the air.

Daphne laughed. "Alright Blaise, it is pretty. But stop trying to soak me, okay?"

Blaise grinned at her as he threw another stone. "Don't count on me to make promises I won't keep."


	28. Fire

_**(A.N: My exams are now done. Yay for summer!)**_

XXVIII. Fire

Sometimes Daphne found herself wondering whether Blaise should really have been a Slytherin. Slytherin was, after all, the house most closely associated with water, but Blaise was fire through and through – ever changing, beautiful, flaring brightly for a moment before dying away completely.

But then Daphne remembered that water was even more changeable than fire and that ice too can burn, and finally realised exactly why Blaise had been sorted into Slytherin. People shy away from fire because they know they could get burnt, but how many would think to fear getting burnt by ice?


	29. Choice

XXIX. Choice

"You don't love me at all, do you?"

"That's not true," Blaise protested, but the speed with which he said it was enough to convince Daphne that he was lying again, trying to cover his own back.

"Yes. It is," Daphne sighed. "If you loved me, you wouldn't be such a terrible flirt."

"I'm not actually _doing_ anythi…"

"I don't care if you're doing anything or not," she hissed. "You want to. You want to and that's bad enough."

"Merlin's beard, Daphne, will you just listen to me?" Blaise shouted. "Of all the girls out there I chose _you_. I chose yo…"

"You chose me because I'm the only one stupid enough to put up with you," Daphne replied. "Well I'm not going to do that anymore. I won't."

"Daphne, do you even understand what you're saying?"

"Do you love me, Blaise?"

"I've already told you. I made my choice and I chose _you_. You're special."

"Do you _love_ me? It's a simple enough question."

He didn't reply for a while.

"Daphne, I…"

"Go away, Blaise. Go away before I curse you," she snarled. She wasn't going to allow herself to cry because of him, not again.


	30. Stormier

XXX. Stormier

Daphne hadn't seen anything like it before. The weather was stormier than she ever would have thought possible – the rain was falling in sheets, the trees smashing against the walls of the house, threatening to lose their roots and fly into the air. If there hadn't been magic around the house, they probably would have been crushed under rubble by now.

She wasn't surprised when the door creaked open and Astoria came in. Astoria had never liked storms. She was clutching her pillow and a blanket, the flashes of lightening making her look almost like a ghost: only, as Daphne quickly reminded herself, ghosts weren't have been scared of storms. At least none of the ones in their house were.

"I don't like this, Daphne," Astoria mumbled. "I don't like this weather at all. It's not natural."

"It's probably dementors," Daphne replied. "Everyone knows they've been wreaking havoc with the weather all summer."

"At least its only the weather they've ruined," Astoria sighed as she sat down next to her sister, wrapping her blanket around them both and staring out at the rain, terrified. There was an unspoken 'so far' in her sentence that Daphne didn't even want to think about.


End file.
